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Collaborating to ground multiracial democracy in equity and justice

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Narrative Initiative weaves the power of narrative with other social justice strategies to achieve long term equity.

We maximize opportunities to nourish and grow narrative power, equip narrative changemakers, and bond communities to pursue long-term progress for social justice.

What we do:

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Build network infrastructure

We make connections between people and organizations working across narrative change disciplines. This network, spanning issues and geographies, provides infrastructure for an emerging field and creates space for collaboration.

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Improve narrative change practice

We amplify useful tools and methodologies from the narrative change field, making promising interventions visible to a larger group of practitioners and building skills across disciplines.

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Catalyze alignment in the field

We organize strategy labs, conduct landscape assessments, and explore opportunities for greater alignment among organizations, sectors and movements in order to advance deep narrative shifts.

We will not make significant change without building all three kinds of narrative power, hopefully operating in concert with each other for maximum impact. Our audiences should not be able to go anywhere without encountering our ideas and stories. That kind of saturation, combined with clear paths to action, will change the environment and make more ambitious policy achievable and enduring.

Rinku Sen and Mik Moore, Funding Narrative Change, An Assessment and Framework

Orienting Together: Mapping your Narrative Landscape

Imagine your roommate asks you to plan a road trip. Logically, you ask them where you’ll depart from and where you’re headed. In response, you hear “I don’t know.”  At this point, you weigh your options – you could just throw a couple of darts at a map and find the most efficient line that…

Rural Pre-conference at 22nd Century Initiative in Minneapolis

In organizing, many progressives fall into traps that cast rural Americans as antagonists to progress…

On Mourning as a Motive Force: Grief and Black-Palestinian Solidarity

There is so much on my mind. My thoughts, like my feelings and even the…

Toward New Gravity

As a new organization devoted to connecting and supporting the emergent field of narrative change, we interviewed more than 100 thought leaders in the field. This report captures some of what we learned.

Building Narrative Infrastructure in Minnesota

A report on Narrative Initiative’s state strategy to support emergent narrative change infrastructure in Minnesota that includes what we learned as well as recommendations for practitioners and funders.

Rapid Response Worksheet

This worksheet provides a strategic communications framework for advancing narrative strategy in the face of a crisis or other breaking news development.

We agree, the term “narrative” is tossed around a lot.

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